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Game 75, Mariners at Royals

The press is celebrating the early game because it allows them to locate and ingest more barbecue. You could be celebrating it because it allows you to go outside to either barbecue or not. You should hike or something. Hiking is good exercise.

Today’s pitching match-up features two somewhat familiar quantities and if you were guessing that I might be stalling because I didn’t have anything to say about it, yeah. Jason Vargas on the mound for the Royals doesn’t mean much to those of us who have paid attention to some hundred odd starts of him from 2009 to 2012. This year is similar to last year in every aspect save that his strand rate has been about 4% higher, balls aren’t dropping in for him as much (- thirty points on BABIP), and he’s dropped half a walk per nine innings. Otherwise, he’s been Jason Vargas. Competent, kind of boring, sallow-looking. That he’s left-handed means we get to see things like John Buck, Cole Gillespie, Jesus Montero, and Stefen Romero, if you’re at all into seeing those things.

Larry Stone points out that Miller is hitting .297/.352/.484 over his last ten, so that would be cool if he’s now figuring it out. It would be different from the kind of situation we’re accustomed to with Smoak and Ackley. I would prefer something different.

I would attempt to provide more content, but then I’d miss the start time. Your minor league probables: Carraway (Tacoma), Victor Sanchez (Jackson), Jochi Ogando (High Desert), Campbell (Clinton), Noel de la Cruz (Everett), and TBDs for everyone else. Nine games in action today. I do not miss having to spend my evening writing about all of them.

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Comments

17 Responses to “Game 75, Mariners at Royals”

DarkKnight1680 on
June 21st, 2014 11:46 am

JY – If Sanchez continues to run good peripherals and his old-school numbers drop a bit, is it likely he starts 2015 in Tacoma? Would that put him in line to be in the majors at age 20 as a september callup? Any chance he follows the Maurer/Elias route and goes straight to MLB from AA?

JY – If Sanchez continues to run good peripherals and his old-school numbers drop a bit, is it likely he starts 2015 in Tacoma? Would that put him in line to be in the majors at age 20 as a september callup? Any chance he follows the Maurer/Elias route and goes straight to MLB from AA?

I’m setting a dangerous precedent by responding to any minor league question at all, but…

Elias and Maurer were both call-ups of necessity. When Maurer was in the rotation, we also used Aaron Harang, Joe Saunders, and Jeremy Bonderman. Elias is in the rotation and we’ve had Chris Young and a version of Erasmo Ramirez that doesn’t have much command to speak of. These, hopefully, will be dissimilar situations from next year because I would appreciate it if we were able to pencil in Walker, Paxton, or whoever we might pick up on the market to fill out the rotation and obviate the need to call someone up from double-A.

Sanchez in recent years has not displayed the stuff that either of those two had either. Maurer had a low-to-mid-90s heater and a good slider. Elias has plus velocity for a southpaw and a good curve. Sanchez, as of last year, had just average velocity, okay curve, maybe above-average change, and succeeded because he could spot it where he needed to.

This year, he’s been injured off and on, become a more extreme flyball pitcher, lost some command but gained some Ks, and have given up way more home runs than we’re accustomed to seeing. Part of this is likely the effect of injury, but even if you’re willing to let that slide, there’s the basic question that remains. Are you willing to have a command-based pitcher with only average stuff who has already vaulted over a level entirely vault over another level in order to pitch in the majors? This doesn’t look like sound process to me. Rather have him in Tacoma, rather not need him in the Mariners rotation.

I appreciate the thread Jay, but I didn’t get past the first paragraph where you told me to go out for a hike.

Well done.

Dennisss on
June 21st, 2014 3:22 pm

Jay,

Next time the game thread looks lonely, I’ll post a comment just so you know someone is there. There wasn’t much to comment on early, then I went and ran errands, thoroughly expecting a crushing loss. So…yay!

Westside guy on
June 21st, 2014 5:07 pm

Jay Yencich: “Take a hike!”

USS Mariner rabble: “Oh, okay – that’s a great idea!”

Westside guy on
June 21st, 2014 5:09 pm

MrZ, I expect Raul will get one or two more shots with other teams.

HighlightsAt11 on
June 21st, 2014 6:13 pm

Jay, appreciate the game thread content. Even if I wasn’t able to read it after the game (was assuming a night game).

Kudos to Young for a good game and Medina/Rodney finishing. Great to see the M’s figured out how to win at the end. A positive for the locker room, leading into tomorrows game (hint: 11:10am PDT).

Good to see Brad’s improvement at the plate, and Ackley able to bring Seager home.

Why, with two outs in the ninth inning and M’s ahead 2-1, did Romero even contemplate stealing home, especially with Miller getting hot? Is that what the book of percentages says to do?

HighlightsAt11 on
June 21st, 2014 6:14 pm

Westside, might as well go for three.

DarkKnight1680 on
June 21st, 2014 6:22 pm

Daniel Missaki, future Ace! Don’t sleep on the Brazilian!

11records on
June 21st, 2014 7:59 pm

MarinersMinors.com Is Dead. Long Live MarinersMinors.com

bookbook on
June 21st, 2014 8:44 pm

I went for a swim…

I know you’ve retired but I’d love your midseason take on the Mariners minor leaguers.

My hopes for Peterson-Wilson-Kivlehan border on the irrational (not to mention Marder-Marlette-Littlewood et al.) Come, slap some sense into us all, once in a while.

I know you’ve retired but I’d love your midseason take on the Mariners minor leaguers.

I’m thinking of doing something like that around the beginning of July but the format and content are going to be somewhat unconventional. The more time you spend with a convention, the more you come to question its utility and usage, so I’m going to try something I haven’t seen exercised often.